Brussels, 11/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - The regional and local authorities of the EU member states and the European Commission intend to step up cooperation as a means of more efficiently responding to natural disasters in the European Union.
This commitment was made on Friday 8 May in Brussels during a debate with Christos Stylianides, the European commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, organised by the Committee of the Regions (CoR) on the theme of European Regions at the Forefront of Disaster Management.
This commitment is the starting point for closer cooperation in the development of disaster prevention and management strategies in Europe and collective responsibility, explained the participants in the debate.
According to José Luis Carneiro, the commissioner's co-chair at the event, “Europe needs to strengthen its system of individual and collective civil protection. There are increasingly more disasters that overwhelm local, regional and national capacities and we need better instruments of response so fewer lives are lost and less damage inflicted”.
In an effort to reduce the impact of natural disasters in the future and better prepare for them, he called for the setting up of an EU-wide framework for improving cooperation and capacity building given that, “Disaster risk reduction is everyone's business. We all have a role to play: us at the local and regional level, in the national ministries and the European institutions”.
Christos Stylianides believes that disaster management “is not a choice, but the true meaning of European solidarity”. The Commissioner openly recognised that local and regional governments are usually at the forefront of disaster management and so their role was crucial, “especially in the first stages”. He also said that the front line EU regions “need to work more closely together with neighbour regions to deliver efficient local solutions to the problem”.
The Commissioner called for deepening the partnership with regions stating that “Locally-driven solutions are crucial for lessening disaster risks. I want us to become more involved amongst local, regional, national and European partners in making our continent a safer place to be”. (Aminata Niang)